Excrept from comment wrote on : Responses to “Successful Meeting of PFDJ Bay Area – California Chapters”
http://erigazette.org/?p=3865
September 18-23, 2001 – a black week in the history of freedom in Eritrea and African, the year 2001 witnessed the hopes, dreams of our people to witness free and democratic Eritrea crashed down atrociously by the heartless Isayas Afwerki and his henchmen. On September 18, 2001, the government of Isayas’ vicious and undemocratic nature culminated in a major cracking down on pro-democracy groups in Eritrea and arresting 11government ministers, including journalists and editors of independent newspapers, influential community leaders/elders, business owners and investors, and others. They have been in jail ever since and no charges have been brought against them by the government. The regime of Isayas refuses to allow visitation of immediate family members of the prisoners. In addition, the government refuses to reveal the whereabouts and the fate of hundreds of thousands of prisoners it is holding. On September 2001, Eritrea people awoke to the inevitable reality of dictatorship and tyranny in their country.
I was high school student barley eighteen at that time, yet I had already received three separate, punishing military trainings in Gahtelay, Afabet and in Asmara. The so called GoE was always devising ways to separate young boy and girls from their parents at every given chances for farther brainwashing. We were thought chauvinism, bigotry and ignorance; “we Eritreans are special people always right when it comes to morality, ethics and truthfulness” “wrong doing by our leaders is simply unthinkable.” Pure vapid demagogue! Who is to be blame? There is no a simple answer, but the fact that we are the creation of our older generations cannot be denied.
Use to love reading those Eritrean newspapers, our starved and brainwashed brains need food for though and the newspapers supplied the demand. Personally I was much keen on their Science & Technology, Humour & Love, and News & Sports sections of the newspapers. I remember few days after the banning of the free press me and a friend were having an interesting debate about free press, one smart disabled veteran from ‘Measker Denden’ joined the debate and introduced us to a quote by Walter Lippman, I never forget what he said, it goes like this “The theory of the free press is not that the truth will be presented completely or perfectly in any one instance, but that the truth will emerge from free discussion”. Indeed, how true, the quote encapsulates the whole point and theory behind free press perfectly well.
September 2001 was a make or break year for Eritrea; sadly freedom, democracy and equality lost against dictatorship, oppression and tyranny in that dark September. In 2001 I had lost many of my best friends during the senseless war with Ethiopia, some of my school mates and friends were being routinely rounded up daily and taken to secret prisons. People disparaging left and right, some of them found dead with shoddy explanation.
Mama Miriam Hagos was my neighbour; she was strong, patriotic, caring, smart, stylish, independent, open minded and liberal kind of a person…She dressed and acted like a stylish lady, she thought like a man. If by any chance you want to empower women all you have to do is to introduce Mama Miriam to the seen for an instant impact.
Mama Miriam disappeared without any trace in October 2001; I sow her elderly mother weep on her daughters’ parked car outside her home in Measker Denden (Kganew), soon after the disappearance of her daughter. It was heart breaking to see the elderly mother come back every single day to call on her disappeared Miriam. Sadly few years ago I heard the elderly mother of Miriam Hagos died out of extreme devastation and sorrow without ever knowing what had happened to her daughter.
I quickly realized that I was living at the wrong place in the wrong time; hence I decided enough is enough with the PFDJ thugs, and decided to escape from their oppressive grip. Before I had the chance to kiss goodbye to my beloved family and friends in early 2002 I managed to escape to Sudan. I was devastated to live my country, and at the same time reasonably optimistic and hopeful about my future without oppression and brutality of the PFDJ thugs. Soon as I arrived into Khartoum I joined the Eritrean People’s Democratic Front (SAGEM), and then upon my arrival into EUROP in 2005 I joined The Eritrean People’s Movement. The rest is history.
September 18, 2001, the dark day has become to symbolise the flickering light of hope for freedom, justice, human rights and democracy in Eritrea grew considerably dimmer. September 18, 2001 is absolutely impossible to forget. For now Isayas may laugh and celebrate his victory over Eritrean people but not for long now, justice will not be absent for ever, one day justice will come down crashing on the heads of the criminals like a ton of bricks….